Seyed A.R. Kaboli; M. Bahaaddini; Seyed M. Kaboli
Abstract
Traditionally, the earthmoving operations have been developed based on the minimum cost per production criterion. Nowadays, due to the negative impacts of the emissions on the environment, there is an increasing public awareness to reduce the emissions from the earthmoving operations. Different management ...
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Traditionally, the earthmoving operations have been developed based on the minimum cost per production criterion. Nowadays, due to the negative impacts of the emissions on the environment, there is an increasing public awareness to reduce the emissions from the earthmoving operations. Different management strategies can be employed to reduce emissions, amongst other things, which can also result in a reduction in the operational costs. This paper aims to examine the cost and emissions related to the earthmoving equipment from an operational standpoint. The queue theory is used in order to demonstrate that the optimum cost per production fleet size and the optimum emissions per production coincide. The linear and non-linear server utilization functions are employed to present a general optimization proof independent from any specific case study. The findings of this research work provide a better understanding of the relationship between the emissions and cost and how the under-trucking and over-trucking conditions affect the productivity and environmental affairs in the earthmoving operations.
Exploitation
H. Bakhshandeh Amnieh; M. Hakimiyan Bidgoli; H. Mokhtari; A. Aghajani Bazzazi
Abstract
Estimating the costs of blasting operations is an important parameter in open-pit mining. Blasting and rock fragmentation depend on two groups of variables. The first group consists of mass properties, which are uncontrollable, and the second one is the drill-and-blast design parameters, which can be ...
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Estimating the costs of blasting operations is an important parameter in open-pit mining. Blasting and rock fragmentation depend on two groups of variables. The first group consists of mass properties, which are uncontrollable, and the second one is the drill-and-blast design parameters, which can be controlled and optimized. The design parameters include burden, spacing, hole length, hole diameter, sub-drilling, charge weight, charge length, stemming length, and charge density. Blasting costs vary depending on the size of these parameters. Moreover, blasting brings about some undesirable results such as air overpressure, fly rock, back-break, and ground vibration. This paper proposes a mathematical model for estimating the costs of blasting operations in the Baghak gypsum mine. The cost of blasting operations in the objective function is divided into three parts: drilling costs, costs of blasting system, and costs of blasting labours. The decision variables used to minimize the costs include burden, spacing, hole diameter, stemming length, charge density, and charge weight. Constraints of the model include the boundary and operational limitations. Air overpressure in the mine is also anticipated as one of the model constraints. The non-linear model obtained with consideration of constraints is optimized by simulated annealing (SA). After optimizing the model by SA, the best values for the decision variables are determined. The value obtained for the cost was obtained to be equal to 2259 $ per 7700 tons for the desired block, which is less than the blasting costs in the Baghak gypsum mine.
